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This may seem simple enough to many programmers out there but this threw me for a few days. This is how you install imagick on a windows server. If your site is on a shared host, you need to ask your host to install the extension for you.

The folks over at Picktogame.com have a way for you to make games and have fun. Its easy to use and intuitive. Of course it’s still in Beta. The downside is that I noticed the signup isn’t secure (https).
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get busy!!

In this day and age one sometimes wonders who is behind what media is pushed for success. Who are the ‘experts’ that push and market a movie that flops? What are they thinking that we will like? Enter MediaPredict. MediaPredict is a site that allows people to predict the success of new media.

The site is basically a media rating game. After registering you are given $5,000 play money. You use the money to invest in media you think will succeed or fail. It’s played much like a stock market where you can even short sell. The value of the stock(media) is a value based upon others buying and selling the commodity. This represents it’s probability of succeeding out in the world.

(Dashboard – My first purchase)

In the screenshot above I was able to buy shares of a book that I thought would be successful.

It appears that MediaPredict is relatively new. The choices available to work with currently seems limited to new publishers, books, music artists, and a few television sit-com pilots.

The media can be just about anything ranging from books, movies, music and television. Up and coming, and mainstream media is included in the system. Here is an example of a music artist;

New music artist

- Will the artist get a record deal?

- If the artist has a deal what are it’s chances of success?

- Will a single reach the top 5/10/100?

There is a deadline or time limit for each ‘project’. Obviously there are dates for record releases and such.

The goal I’m sure is to add this source to the portfolio of marketing gurus around the world. I’m not sure of how much data MediaPredict has to offer now other than the popularity of it’s net savvy users. Of course the demographics are a bit different as well. So I suppose it could be a worthwhile added resource.

Features I’d like to see
I couldn’t find a way to add another source of media to the site. So for now it seems that only MediaPredict has the power to add/remove new media. I hope this can be changed in the future.

I would like to see MMORPG category added to the list or tag cloud of choices.

Another feature that would be nice to have is current media, and the prediction of it’s future from now. There is a lot of media and sites out there that started of well, and began to stink after a few episodes or albums. One hit wonders.

Features I don’t want to see
Social networking within MediaPredict. There is already no value to any positive gains you get from playing the game. You win fake money that can’t be used for anything other than bragging rights or just feeling nice about participating. The game itself is interesting. But to add social networking with equally useless winnings and badges is a total turn off for me.

I’d like to see MediaPredict stick to what it is. I think they’ve got something here. Maybe MediaPredict should add themselves to their own market ;)

According to Blogger Buzz Google is looking for user experience research blogging with google blogger. As mentioned in the FAQ you first need to sign up. After you have signed up you may or may not be selected depending on what they are looking for:

For each study, we need to make sure that we invite people who match our target user profile for the product we are researching. We also want to get a good balance of ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience, so please be honest with your answers. It’s easier for us to match you to a suitable study when we have more information about you, so if you fill in as much of our sign-up form as you can, it’s more likely that you will be invited to participate.

There are different experience sessions where you will work with a google researcher 1 on 1, on the phone, or in a group. It looks like some of the research will be done in person at google. Except you have to find your own way there. The pay looks pretty decent too.. “typically we pay $75 for each hour that you spend with a Google researcher”. The FAQ also mentions the average time commitment is in the range of 1-1.5 hours during business hours.

I think this is great customer service. It seems they want to see how users view and work with their goods. It also gives an opportunity for users in the test to request features, changes to existing features, as well as having features removed. I wonder if this is a result of googlecanyouhear me?

All in all I think this is a smart move and I’m quite curious what will come out of this.

The most interesting info centers on web standards. According to Mary Jo Foley’s report of the session, IE8 will encourage web designers to create websites that adhere to web standards, and allow them to opt-in to a standards mode if they meet that criteria.

“IE8 will encourage web designers to create websites that adhere to web standards”

*Cough* I mean really?

M$ pushing for designers to stick to standards?? How long. How long, has Internet Explorer had ‘quirks’ and workarounds for the box model as well as all the other bugs it’s had? Specifically in CSS. Seriously.

On top of all this, the browser is so integrated into the operating systems in such a way that if it becomes corrupt, it can slow down your OS, and make some files and operations down right break. Unfortunately IE still has a large portion of users out there. As of this writing still about 78% of the population(via Marketshare). I’d personally be willing to say I’ll bet they are corporate users, or the small portion of home consumers who are unaware of other options out there.

On the other hand I will say it’s taken much too long. If this IS true, THANK YOU Microsoft! But I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m sticking to my firefox.